Traders Buy Large Volume of Citizens Financial Group Call Options (NYSE:CFG)

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 7,407 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 198% compared to the average daily volume of 2,482 call options.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE CFG opened at $47.06 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $20.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.53, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.10. Citizens Financial Group has a 1 year low of $30.24 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.48.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.79. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 10.37% and a return on equity of 5.73%. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CFG shares. Truist Financial started coverage on Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $49.00 price target for the company. DA Davidson increased their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Compass Point increased their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $45.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.78.

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 6.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,826,368 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,060,689,000 after acquiring an additional 1,615,144 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 207.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,272,043 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $339,733,000 after acquiring an additional 5,579,313 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,974,434 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $217,781,000 after acquiring an additional 805,758 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 15.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,429,264 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $159,550,000 after acquiring an additional 587,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 61.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,422,948 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $155,909,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682,886 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Company Profile

Citizens Financial Group, Inc operates as the bank holding company that provides retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, corporations, and institutions in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Consumer Banking and Commercial Banking.